Ra was the god of the sun during dynastic Egypt; the name is thought to have meant "creative power", and as a proper name "Creator", similar to English Christian usage of the term "Creator" to signify the "almighty God." Very early in Egyptian history, Ra was identified with Horus, who as a hawk or falon-god represented the loftiness of the skies. Ra is represented either as a hawk-headed man or as a hawk. In order to travel through the waters of Heaven and the Underworld, Ra was depicted as traveling in a boat.
In dynastic Egypt, Ra's cult center was Annu (Hebrew "On", Greek "Heliopolis", near modern-day Cairo). In Dynasty 5, the first king, Userkaf, was also Ra's high priest, and he added the term Sa-Ra "Son of Ra" to the titles of the pharaohs.
Ra was father of Shu and Tefnut, grandfather of Nut and Geb, great-grandfather of Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys, and great-great-grandfather to Horus.
In later periods (about Dynasty 18 on) Osiris and Isis surpassed him in popularity, but he remained Ra netjer-aa neb-pet "Ra, the great god, Lord of Heaven" whether worshiped in his own right or, in later times, as one aspect of the Lord of the Universe, Amun-Ra.
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